I restored my grandpa’s old Millers Falls No. 8 smoother and its great, with just one issue. It planes beautifully for about 10 strokes and then suddenly the lever cap just, flops off. Its extremely tight when i first put it on, tighter than the cap on my Stanley No 5, but I can still make adjustments with ease. If i tighten the screw any more I cannot even attach the cap to begin with. The more I look at it, it seems to have something to do with the whale hump cap iron, but I may be wrong. If anyone has any insight I really need itThanks

Make sure that Cap Iron is set within 1/16” to the end of the blade. If it is too far away from the end of the blade, the lever cap does not seat correctly and pops loose during use. It also makes it seem like the lever cap is very tight.

You might want to check and make sure your depth adjustment knob is not supper sloppy. If your last step when setting the blade is to back it out it might slip back causing the lever cap to pop. It’s better practice for you to retract and then extend it to where you want it.

Thanks for the info everyone, but the cap iron is already set to within 1/16” and the depth adjustment is anything but sloppy, at least it isn’t in my opinion. I had assumed I was just doing something wrong with the plane since Millers Falls uses the two-piece lever cap I am not accustomed to seeing.

Deycart: When you say retract and then extend the iron, do you mean retract it, place the lever cap, then extend it to the correct position? If so, will making depth of cut adjustments also count as “retracting” the iron in your book? That hasn’t seemed to be a factor in whether or not the cap falls off though.

No, I mean when you are setting the depth of cut when it is fully assembled. You want your last action to be extending the blade. That way the yoke is at the bottom of the slot in the cap iron. If you retract it, it is at the top and when you push the plane on a board it will cause the blade to shift (retract) a little bit. If your lever cap is having problems staying on, this might help relieve it and you will have a more predictable cut.

Deycart now I see what you’re saying. I will definitely give that a try seeing as how I generally do exactly the opposite. It seems to work for me on every other plane I have that doesn’t have that two-piece lever cap though. I really do love the feel of the Millers Falls while the lever cap is still on it and I hope to use it a lot one of these days.

Sounds like your cap screw is too tight. Back it out (might need a fractional turn) and potentially add some locktite. If the lever cap is on to tight it won’t close properly and just pop open. The lever cap should close with ease. Also, put a couple drops of oil (I use camellia oil) on the lever cap hinge.

I’ve waxed the surfaces with Johnson wax and oiled all the threads and movements already, but I’m not sure how well the wax works in your opinion (seems to do well on my Stanley planes.) I was halfway wondering if I should oil the places where the lever cap touches the cap iron to reduce friction but that seemed like it was asking for dust to collect on it.